A Second Chance
by blueturtle14
Summary: It's been months since the events of the Breakfast Club and Claire has never been more miserable. Prom comes around and Claire is left with regrets about the choices she's made and the people she's hurt. Will prom offer the Princess a second chance, a chance to make things right?


**AN: I've had this oneshot in my head for a while and thought I'd better get it down on paper while I had the chance. Cheryl Allen and Lisa are characters from other Breakfast Club fics I have written but you don't have to read those to understand who they are. Hope any readers enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own The Breakfast Club**

Claire stood in the middle of her room, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Over the past few months she had grown used to this; to looking in the mirror and hating the person staring back at her. At first, she hadn't understood why: She looked the same as she always had. Then she realised, her eyes looked different. They seemed to be glaring at her, accusing her of something.

It was prom night, a night Claire had been looking forward to since freshman year. Until recently, anyway. As anyone would have expected, Claire looked perfect. She had selected a very beautiful (and very expensive) dress and had spent hours getting ready. Anyone who looked at her would see the same princess Claire had always been.

But it was all a disguise. Underneath the façade were the signs of who she really was. Claire always tried to cover them up, but they were there. The dark circles under her eyes were a sign of the nights she'd spent lying awake, mourning the life she could have had if she hadn't been so afraid. Her nails, bitten and chipped, reflected the worry she felt whenever she saw The Breakfast Club in the hallways of school. Although they were carefully concealed, Claire could see these things in the mirror, and she hated being reminded of them. Of who she really was.

With a sigh, Claire slipped on her shoes and made her way downstairs, where she knew her 'friends' would be waiting for her. When she passed her parent's bedroom, the door was closed and she could hear her mother's drunken sobbing. _"And your poor, rich, drunk mother in the_ _Caribbean!"_ The words echoed in her head, bringing tears to her eyes. Furious with herself for even thinking about _him, _she blinked away the tears and continued downstairs.

As she expected, her friends stood waiting for her. Amongst them was her father who made them laugh with something he said. Her friends were, as always, oblivious to the wreck that was her mother directly above their heads.

"Claire!" He beamed when he saw her coming, "You look gorgeous."

"Thanks, Daddy." Claire forced a smile as her father kissed her forehead. He smelt of alcohol, too. But the hint of mouthwash told her he was trying to cover it up.

"You girls have a good night." Her father said, vanishing into the kitchen.

"Are you excited, Claire?" Lisa asked. Lisa was the only girl Claire could still stand from her circle of friends. She was quiet, and Claire knew she was only allowed to hang around with them because she was pretty and sweet, definite competition for Queen B Cheryl Allen. Lisa was oblivious to this, but Claire didn't pity her; ignorance is bliss.

"Of course she's excited." Cheryl rolled her eyes before smiling at Claire, "I can't believe you turned down Stubby, now you have to go without a date."

"I don't mind," Claire shrugged, "I'd rather be with you guys."

"Gag me with a spoon." Cheryl joked, "You're turning into such a sap, Claire."

The limo Cheryl's dad had hired was big and white. It sat in Claire's driveway, reminding her how she should be tonight: perfect. Lisa, who couldn't contain her smile, stopped following Cheryl and her two other loyal followers so she could wave Claire over.

"You okay, Claire?" Lisa asked, "You don't look so good."

"I'm fine." Claire lied, taking Lisa's arm and leading her to the limo. "Are you excited for tonight?"

Claire tried to listen as her friend began telling her about how excited she was, but she just couldn't. Lisa was adorable (in a really tragic way), and usually it made Claire feel good to be the only one genuinely interested in Lisa's life, but tonight she was too busy thinking about other people's lives.

Claire took the seat next to the window and phased out of the conversation, instead wondering what her former friends from detention were doing. She couldn't imagine John at prom, he'd be getting high with his burnout friends. Allison and Andy might be there, though. She imagined them dancing as Andy's wrestling buddies laughed at them from across the gym. They wouldn't care though. Brian would probably have gone with them. He wouldn't have a date but Andy and Allison wouldn't exclude him.

"So who are you voting for Prom King?" Cheryl asked, pulling Claire back into the unfortunate world of reality.

"Oh, I hadn't really thought about it." Claire confessed.

"Well you might need to, you'll have to vote for someone." Kate laughed, examining her carefully painted nails.

"What about Andrew Clark?" Claire picked her head up and turned to Lisa, a questioning look in her eye. Did she have a death wish?

Cheryl had frozen in the act of checking her golden hair in the mirror. "Holy shit, Lisa. Sometimes I don't know why we even let you hang out with us. No one's going to vote for Clark, not since he started dating that weird bitch. Even the wrestling team won't have anything to do with him anymore. That's probably why they kicked him off."

Anger welled up inside Claire. Anger at what Cheryl had said about Allison and Andrew. Anger at the way Cheryl had spoken to Lisa. But mostly anger at herself, because she knew she wouldn't do anything about it. A voice that now existed only in her memory screamed at her, _"You don't got the balls to stand up to your friends and tell them that you're gonna like who you wanna like." _

"Andrew got kicked off the wrestling team?" Claire was surprised to hear her own voice.

"You're such an airhead." Kate joked, nudging Claire in the side, "I told you in math two weeks ago."

"I must have forgotten, what with thinking about prom and everything." Claire lied, she had been too busy staring at Brian across the room and willing him to look at her.

"In that case, I'll let you off."

"So considerate of you." Claire mumbled, making Kate chuckle. "I thought you guys had dates."

"They're meeting us there." Lisa had her head low, probably holding back tears.

As the limo turned into the parking lot of Shermer High, Claire realised that Prom somehow managed to transform the place. Prom was the only time in four years that students approached the school excited, trying (and failing) to hold in their joy. They didn't slouch around or complain, they glided. Girls less popular than Claire and her friends found a confidence they never dreamed they had. In short, Prom gave Shermer High School a soul.

It wasn't cold out, but Claire still felt a shiver as she stepped out of the limo. Whether from anticipation or dread, she did not know. Cheryl had already found her way over to her date. She had, of course, been asked to prom by the captain of the football team, Chase Ellis. Claire's friends had also found their dates, and Claire regretted not accepting Stubby's invitation; she'd have felt like less of an extra wheel. Maybe Brian would feel like this with Allison and Andrew.

The high school gym looked different when it was hung with streamers. Somehow it didn't feel like the same gym the basketball team played in, or the gym where assemblies were sometimes held. It was another part of Shermer High School transformed by prom.

As Claire followed her friends into the gym, she was surprised to see Brian Johnson on the dance floor, his arms around a small blonde girl with thick rimmed glasses. The two were looking at each other intently, and Claire realised she'd seen the girl before, they were in the same math class. The girl's name, however, could not find its way to Claire's memory. Andy and Allison were a short distance away, swaying together. The sight brought regretful tears to Claire's eyes.

"I'm going to dance." Cheryl announced, grabbing Chad's hand and dragging him towards the dance floor, "Don't forget to vote for prom queen!" She called back over her shoulder.

Upon hearing her words, Lisa darted towards the table where votes were being cast and began scrawling a name on a piece of paper. Claire, who had followed her, picked up a piece of paper, wrote Lisa's name on it and dropped it into the ballet box.

Once her friends had disappeared onto the dance floor, Claire was left alone, sat half way up the bleachers, watching the second hand idle its way around the clock face. If it moved any slower, time would come to a stand-still. Lisa would occasionally wave from the dance floor, and Kate brought her the odd drink (most likely out of pity), but other than that Claire was completely alone.

That's when she noticed _him _sitting at the top of the bleachers on the other side of the gym.

Her feet carried her across the gym, despite the fact that her brain had not permitted them to. She was almost at the top when he noticed her, too close for him to stand up and walk away.

"Hi." Claire whispered, surprised the words hadn't caught in her throat.

"What do you want, Princess?" As John Bender glared at her, Claire could feel his hatred cutting down to her core. "Shouldn't you be down there with your real friends?"

"I don't have real friends." She was talking so quietly she was surprised he heard her.

"Will your hardships ever end?"

"I didn't expect to see you here." Claire gave him a little smile, hoping to make conversation.

John didn't return her smile, "I can't say the same to you." His words once again rung in her ears: _"Just bury you head in the sand and wait for your fuckin' prom". _"My date forced me to come."

Claire couldn't explain the wave of hurt that ran over her, "You're here with someone?"

John pointed to the refreshments table, where a dark haired girl in blue stood laughing with Brian, Andrew, Allison and Brian's date.

"Oh-"

He cut her off, "Don't tell me you're fucking jealous. You got what you wanted out of me. You got daddy mad and mommy upset, then you were done with me. Back in daddy's good books now, Claire?"

Claire didn't say anything, she was too busy fighting back the tears that threatened to spill over. She hadn't been able to do that when she broken up with John and left her detention friends after just two weeks. John had gone ballistic and it hadn't helped when she'd started sobbing.

"I was just gonna say she seems nice."

"Don't get too jealous, Queeny, she's just a friend."

"I'm not jealous… just a friend?"

"A childhood friend, why'd you think I got so defensive about my friends in detention?" Claire remembered his words as if he'd said them yesterday: _You don't know any of my friends, you don't look at any of my friends, and you certainly wouldn't condescend to speak to any of my friends!"_

"Sorry."

"I bet you are." John said.

"Look, I don't expect you to accept my apology. I don't even want you to accept it, I only want you to know how fucking sorry I am. I wake up every day and regret how stupid I was. I thought I couldn't handle being the bottom of the high school food chain. Now I realise I can't handle being around _them_ and their selfish, shallow attitudes. They're suffocating me, and I can't do it anymore. So after tonight, I definitely won't have them as friends, I may not even have any friends, but I'll be free. Turning away from you guys was the biggest mistake I ever made, and I'm putting it right, with or without you guys!"

John considered her words for an agonising eternity, "Is this you asking for a second chance?"

Claire nodded, letting the tears finally spill over.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"They say you don't realise you've got a good thing until it's gone. You guys are living proof of that for me, I didn't realise how much I needed you until you'd gone."

"Okay, sweets. One more chance."

Claire smiled, her first genuine smile in months. She sat down on the bleachers and slipped her hand into John's, surprised when he didn't pull away.

"I wasn't using you, I really do care about you, I was just scared."

"I know."

Once all the votes had been cast, it was time to announce the Prom King and Queen. Chase Ellis had, obviously, been voted Prom King. That confirmed the fact that, if Cheryl wasn't voted Prom Queen, the winner would spend the next few years hearing "It's not that you're not pretty, it's just that everyone knows I should have been Prom Queen."

"And your Prom Queen is… Claire Standish.

All attention turned to Cheryl Allen, who did nothing to hide how blatantly pissed off she was. Then, everyone started glancing around in an attempt to locate Claire Standish.

Little did they know that the Prom Queen and the Criminal had already escaped the stuffy gym and vanished into the night.

**AN: Hope any readers enjoyed.**


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